Smokestack Lightning

By Randall Luce

Delmore and Maceo--a white policeman disappeared, and a black activist lynched, both on the same night in a Mississippi Delta town. Sam Swain, ex-Chief of Police and Delmore's uncle, believes the two events are linked, but it's 1956 and the police will not investigate what role a missing white man might have played in a black man's murder. Reluctantly, Swain agrees to look for his nephew and, at the request of Maceo's family, to look for Maceo's missing body.Swain's investigation takes him back five decades to a seminal event in the history of the county, and also into present-day controversies. He must contend with an agent of the segregationist Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, who threatens Swain and his family to put a stop to his investigation. Swain must also face his own guilt for putting his family at risk.Set during a time of political and social upheaval, Smokestack Lightning is a tale about the presistence of truth and the necessity of forgiveness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0615780717
• ISBN13: 9780615780719
• Release Date: May 2013
• Publisher: Hushpuckena Press
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"